My volunteer work with CCL is how I discovered Sam. I asked him to speak at the March 2016 meeting of Climate Reality-St. Louis, a group I co-founded in 2011, to talk about how to be a more effective citizen advocate, especially for the climate.

For that talk, Sam started with the Frances Moore Lappé quote and then shared this quote from November 2007 from Lawrence Lessig:

“Last weekend a new…poll found that…only 24% of Americans believe their country is on the right track [74% of respondents told pollsters the country is on the wrong track]

Wrong track is a euphemism. We are a people in clinical depression. Americans know that the ideals that once set our nation apart from the world have been vandalized.

We did a poll and found that 96% of Americans believe it is important to reduce the influence of money in politics but 91% don’t think it’s possible. That’s the politics of resignation.

But the politics of resignations gives you a perfect strategy for winning…how do we thaw that resignation because once we do then I think we have a real chance of winning.”

Sam then shared his story with RESULTS and Citizens' Climate Lobby how people are effectively lobbying members of Congress.

If you are feeling hopeless about climate change, do get involved with groups such as Citizens’ Climate Lobby. They can provide inspiration and a supportive community with their significant solution: lobbying Congress to pass their carbon fee and dividend proposal.

Image Source: Brian Ettling

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“Our real problem is not a heating planet or rampant malnutrition…We only have one real problem: our own feelings of powerlessness to manifest the solutions right in front of our noses.” – author Frances Moore Lappé